New Zealand Middle Earth Epic: Over Hill and Under Hill (uhh, Water)

Nightime view from Mount Cook Village

Before actually falling asleep at Mount Cook, I decided I should get out of bed and see if the stars were out.  I walked outside in just a sweatshirt, my pajama shorts, and shoes.  I'm sure it was probably like 45 degrees outside, but it didn't feel that cold.  The sun had set about an hour and 15 minutes earlier.  Up above me the night sky wasn't fully dark yet so only the brightest of stars could be seen.  Right over the mountains in front of me was Orion, something familiar.  I'm not good at staying out late to see the stars.  I'm typically in bed by 9:30 and have been waking up about 6:30.  Really I've just been listening to my body.  Save for alarms on a few mornings that mattered, I haven't heard an alarm in almost a month!

Nighttime view from Mount Cook Village

In the morning I got up and heading out to Red Tarn Track.  The day before, when stuck in the Visitor's Center during the rain, I had been looking at trails and this one said it was roughly 2hr round-trip and had great views of Mount Cook.  It mentioned stairs, but otherwise nothing about it being super steep or anything.  The trail was probably about 85% stairs and I can tell you that I felt those stairs the next morning.  As I went up, I frequently stopped to take pictures.  Unlike the day before, the sky was a mix of blue and light, white clouds.  I may or may not have been using picture breaks as breathing breaks.  At one point about 2/3s of the way up, I sat down on a rock and just looked out at the scene before me for about 10 minutes.  It was gorgeous!

Mount Cook is the right of center peak sitting a bit further back.

When I made it to the top, the one person who passed me on the trail was sitting up there.  We started talking and it turns out she was from Colorado.  We sat up there for about 15 minutes, took some pictures for the other, and then I wandered off to check out the wetlands area up on the plateau we were on.  On the way down my knees decided they weren't a fan of the stairs so we went really slowly, with some help from my hiking poles.

After I got to my car, I headed to the airport where I was set to do a helicopter-glacier hike.  I had been scheduled to do that the day before, but because of the bad weather, that wasn't an option.  But I was able to get on one the following afternoon.  I have never been on a helicopter before.  Honestly, I was extremely nervous.  I don't understand helicopters.  I don't get how they fly.  But all was good.  I made it to the Tasman Glacier, but my stomach was slightly queasy.

Our helicopter getting ready to take off from the glacier.

Our guide on our hike was Flavia from Argentina.  She showed us how to put our crampons on, handed us a hiking pole, and then we set out.  The main rule was "we go in a single file line because you don't know what is or isn't a meter to the side."  She called crevasses and moulins "one way tickets".  I had never heard of a moulin before, but basically they are holes in glaciers.  As we hiked, she explained that the moraines (or rocks pulled along by the glaciers) both helped and hurt glaciers.  If it was thick enough, it protected the glacier from the sun and melting by reflecting the sun.  But if it was a fairly thin or spotty layer, the rocks heat up and melt the glacier more.

Ice cave at Tasman Glacier

We hiked to an ice cave that had formed in the glacier.  She said about 3 weeks ago the cave was only just big enough for one person to get into at a time, but it is now large enough, that all 13 people on our hike could fit in it.  She says it might last another few months before melting away/being to unsafe to come to.

After the ice cave we wandered to a large moulin that was probably 6 feet in diameter at least.  And then to another ice cave in the making (or something).  I'm not really sure exactly what it will become.  Tasman Glacier is the largest glacier in New Zealand at 24km long.  Standing on it, we had amazing views of Mount Cook above us. Clinging to the side of the mountain are glaciers, and if you watch long enough you'll see these glaciers calve, sending "little" avalanches off the edge.  We saw 4 of them, and heard another.

Mount Cook

Mount Cook isn't exactly tall at 12,218 feet by other mountain standards, but it is the tallest in New Zealand.  It actually has 3 summits along a ridge so some climbers will try to hit all 3.  It is a tricky mountain to climb.  Since I arrived in New Zealand 4 people have died trying to climb it.  A few weeks ago 2 climbers fell from the summit ridge.  And they were still searching for 2 climbers who had been overdue while I was there.  As of yesterday, SAR has stated that they believe they died in an avalanche after finding climbing gear near an avalanche zone.  

After getting back from the heli-hike, I was off towards Christchurch.  I wasn't sure exactly how far I'd make it, but the goal was to get at least halfway there.  Shortly after drive past Lake Tekapo, I came across a field of flowers.  There was an area to pull over.  It was stunning.  It was a natural field.  Nothing being farmed.  And it smelled amazing!!!  A search told me that the flowers were Lupine.

Fields of Lupine with the Southern Alps in the background.

I made it to Geraldine before deciding it was time to stop.  I had had enough driving and I was tired.  I had had a busy day.  The next morning I set off for Akaroa and the Banks Peninsula, which sit a little ways outside of Christchurch.

I did a hike in the Hinewai Reserve.  The trail had a bunch of waterfalls along it.  Unfortunately I bypassed two of the waterfalls after feeling a hotspot on my heel and realizing I didn't have any bandaids with me to cover it.  I still have 2 weeks left of my trip and more walking/hiking to do, so I really didn't want to end up with a bad blister.  The good news was when I pulled my socks off after the hike, there were no signs of a blister.  It was just a bit red.

Just holding onto a tree so I can take a picture and not fall.

Upon finishing the hike, I headed to the town of Akaroa, which is a town on an inlet on the Banks Peninsula.  It is kind of reminds me of a New England seaside town.  There were kids playing in the water, which I'm sure was fairly chilly.  I walked around for a bit, got some ice cream, and figured out where in Christchurch I was going to be spending the night.

Rata Tree, which can only be found in New Zealand.

In the morning I packed up my things, moved my car and walked across the large Hagley Park.  My hotel was on one side and downtown was on the other side.  The park had so many things in it.  Rugby fields, a little lake for RC boats, grass tennis courts, a large botanical garden, and I'm sure if I wandered it more, I would have found a cricket field.  Rugby and cricket are the two big sports here.

Shame I won't be around for this!

In the center of Christchurch is Christ Church Cathedral in Cathedral Square.  The cathedral was badly damaged in the earthquake in 2011.  It is still being fixed, but when it is done, they will have worked to put the church on a seismic stable platform to hopefully keep any future damage from occurring during eventual earthquakes.

The cathedral being worked on.

For the most part, in Christchurch I just wandered around for a few hours.  I happened to wander into an outdoor wear store that had Christmas sales happening and found a pair of hiking pants with 6 full-size (aka men-sized) pockets.  I am beyond thrilled!  As you may be aware, people seem to think women care more about fashion when hiking, that places to put things, so I find there are never enough pockets.

Kaikoura

From Christchurch I drove up to Kaikoura.  At Kaikoura there is a huge seal colony.  I looked down on them from the high viewpoint.  From up high, if I had to guess, we're talking 200+ seals down below.  By far the most I've seen.

Just a mom and her pup in Kaikoura.

On my last full day on the South Island, I got up early to go scuba diving.  It ended up being just me and one other girl from California.  I had wanted to do one dive on the each of the islands and I had read the Kaikoura was a good place to dive.  Unfortunately for us, a storm blew in last night which turned up the ocean, brought colder temps, and made better dive sites unusable today.  The dive site we went to was called Old Wharf.  I knew the diving was going to be cold.  I knew we'd be in 7mm wetsuits with gloves and a hood.  I was surprised when we got in and my rented dive computer said the temperature was 15C, which translates to 59F!!  It also was about the same temperature outside, though it felt colder in the water.  This was my first time diving in an area with kelp, which was interesting.  There were small anenome and some decently sized snails attached to the kelp leaves.  And when I say decently sized, I mean I saw one probably the size of an 8 year old's first.  There were also oyster (or some type of shellfish) shells that were probably 6-7 inches in diameter.  I also found a large, 7-legged, purple sea star.  At first I saw a leg and thought "octopus!" but then I realized it was purple, and I've never seen a non-fictional octopus that was purple.  When I saw more of it, I realize it was a starfish.

After getting out, me and the other girl decided one dive was enough.  We were frozen.  My hands, still showing scarring from last year's Peruvian sunburns, were purple (I matched the sea star!).  

I took a nice warm shower and then returned to the seal colony where I watched baby seal pups in a little seal nursery for like half an hour.  There were so many of them and they were so cute.  The moms would make a trilling call, while the babies made more bleating sounds.  And it was interesting listening to those bleats because some were lower pitched and some higher pitched. There was one little pup who seemed like the adventurous sort.  He started wandering off in the direction of people and eventually mama said, "that's far enough" and started chasing him down.  Then she seemed like she was trying to convince him it was time for a nap, but he wasn't having any of that and started hopping along again it a different direction.  

After a bit, I got in my car to make the trip up to Picton, where I load onto the ferry in the morning for my return to the North Island.  I really enjoyed my time on the South Island, and honestly, I felt I could have spent another week here at least.  That would have given me time to stay overnight for a second night in a couple of places that I debated staying (Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo (which I mostly just bypassed due to time), the Catlins (Curio Bay, etc), the northern coast, even Queenstown and Wanaka which I stayed in for 2 nights I might have considered staying longer and relaxing a bit more.

Ferry arriving in Picton